Medicine (Kitab Al-Tibb)

Hafs ibn ʿUmar al-Namari narrated to us: Shuʿbah narrated to us, from Ziyad ibn ʿIlaqah, from Usamah ibn Sharik, who said: I came to the Prophet ﷺ while his Companions sat as still as if birds were perched on their heads. I greeted them and sat down. Bedouins came from here and there and said: “Messenger of Allah, should we seek medical treatment?” He replied: “Seek treatment, for Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has not created a disease without creating a remedy for it, except one disease: old age.”

Harun ibn ʿAbd Allah narrated to us: Abu Dawud and Abu ʿAmir narrated to us—these are the words of Abu ʿAmir—from Fulayh ibn Sulayman, from Ayyub ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Saʿsaʿah al-Ansari, from Yaʿqub ibn Abi Yaʿqub, from Umm al-Mundhir bint Qays al-Ansariyyah, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came to me with ʿAli, peace be upon him, who was convalescing. We had clusters of ripe dates hanging. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood and ate from them, and ʿAli stood to eat. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ kept saying to ʿAli: “Stop. You are convalescing,” until ʿAli stopped. She said: I prepared barley and chard and brought them. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “ʿAli, eat some of this; it is more beneficial for you.” Abu Dawud said: Harun said, “al-ʿAdawiyyah.”

Musa ibn Ismaʿil narrated to us: Hammad narrated to us, from Muhammad ibn ʿAmr, from Abu Salamah, from Abu Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “If any treatment you use has good in it, it is cupping.”

Muhammad ibn al-Wazir al-Dimashqi narrated to us: Yahya—that is, Ibn Hassan—narrated to us: ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Abi al-Mawali narrated to us: Faʾid, the freedman of ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿAli ibn Abi Rafiʿ, narrated to us, from his patron ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿAli ibn Abi Rafiʿ, from his grandmother Salma, who served the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. She said: Whenever anyone complained to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ of pain in his head, he would say: “Have cupping performed.” If anyone complained of pain in his legs, he would say: “Dye them both.”

ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Ibrahim al-Dimashqi and Kathir ibn ʿUbayd narrated to us, saying: al-Walid narrated to us, from Ibn Thawban, from his father, from Abu Kabshah al-Anmari—Kathir said that he narrated to him—that the Prophet ﷺ used to have cupping performed on the crown of his head and between his shoulders. He would say: “Whoever lets out some of this blood will not be harmed by leaving other treatment for an ailment.”

Muslim ibn Ibrahim narrated to us: Jarir—that is, Ibn Hazim—narrated to us: Qatadah narrated to us, from Anas, that the Prophet ﷺ had cupping performed three times at the two side veins of the neck and the upper back. Maʿmar said: I had cupping performed and lost my memory so badly that I had to be prompted with the Opening of the Book during my prayer. The Prophet ﷺ had also had cupping performed on the crown of his head.

Abu Tawbah al-Rabiʿ ibn Nafiʿ narrated to us: Saʿid ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Jumahi narrated to us, from Suhayl, from his father, from Abu Hurayrah, who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Whoever has cupping performed on the seventeenth, nineteenth, and twenty-first days will find it a remedy for every disease.”

Musa ibn Ismaʿil narrated to us: Abu Bakrah—Bakr ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz—informed me: my paternal aunt Kabshah daughter of Abu Bakrah informed me—and someone other than Musa said Kayyisah daughter of Abu Bakrah—that her father used to forbid his family from having cupping performed on Tuesdays. He attributed to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ the claim that Tuesday is the day of blood, and that there is an hour on it when the bleeding does not stop.

Muslim ibn Ibrahim narrated to us: Hisham narrated to us, from Abu al-Zubayr, from Jabir: The Prophet ﷺ had cupping performed on his hip for a contusion he had.

Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Anbari narrated to us: Abu Muʿawiyah narrated to us, from al-Aʿmash, from Abu Sufyan, from Jabir, who said: The Prophet ﷺ sent a physician to Ubayy, who cut one of his veins.

Musa ibn Ismaʿil narrated to us: Hammad narrated to us, from Thabit, from Mutarrif, from ʿImran ibn Husayn, who said: The Prophet ﷺ forbade cauterization. We had ourselves cauterized, but it brought us no success or benefit. Abu Dawud said: ʿImran used to hear the angels greeting him. When he had himself cauterized, they stopped; when he gave it up, they returned.

Musa ibn Ismaʿil narrated to us: Hammad narrated to us, from Abu al-Zubayr, from Jabir: The Prophet ﷺ cauterized Saʿd ibn Muʿadh for an arrow wound.

ʿUthman ibn Abi Shaybah narrated to us: Ahmad ibn Ishaq narrated to us: Wuhayb narrated to us, from ʿAbd Allah ibn Tawus, from his father, from Ibn ʿAbbas, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used nasal medication.

Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrated to us: ʿAbd al-Razzaq narrated to us: ʿAqil ibn Maʿqil narrated to us, who said: I heard Wahb ibn Munabbih narrate from Jabir ibn ʿAbd Allah, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was asked about nushrah, a treatment for undoing magic, and replied: “It is among the works of Satan.”

ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿUmar ibn Maysarah narrated to us: ʿAbd Allah ibn Yazid narrated to us: Saʿid ibn Abi Ayyub narrated to us: Shurahbil ibn Yazid al-Maʿafiri narrated to us, from ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Rafiʿ al-Tanukhi, who said: I heard ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr say: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: “I do not mind what I do if I drink tiryaq, wear an amulet, or compose poetry myself.” Abu Dawud said: This was specific to the Prophet ﷺ. Some people have permitted it, meaning tiryaq.

Harun ibn ʿAbd Allah narrated to us: Muhammad ibn Bishr narrated to us: Yunus ibn Abi Ishaq narrated to us, from Mujahid, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade foul medicine.

Muhammad ibn Kathir narrated to us: Sufyan informed us, from Ibn Abi Dhiʾb, from Saʿid ibn Khalid, from Saʿid ibn al-Musayyab, from ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn ʿUthman: A physician asked the Prophet ﷺ about putting a frog into medicine, and the Prophet ﷺ forbade him to kill it.

Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrated to us: Abu Muʿawiyah narrated to us: al-Aʿmash narrated to us, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurayrah, who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Whoever drinks poison, carrying it in his hand to sip, will sip it in the Fire of Hell, remaining there forever.”

Muslim ibn Ibrahim narrated to us: Shuʿbah narrated to us, from Simak, from ʿAlqamah ibn Waʾil, from his father, who mentioned that Tariq ibn Suwayd—or Suwayd ibn Tariq—asked the Prophet ﷺ about intoxicating drink. He forbade it. The man asked him again, and he forbade it. The man said: “Prophet of Allah, it is a medicine.” The Prophet ﷺ said: “No; it is a disease.”